Safety Cracks Down on Parking With New Penalties

As students arrive on campus and lots fill up, car registration is becoming even more important. Administration is putting their foot down—or rather, their boot.

The Department of Safety will begin attaching wheel lock clamps, or boots, to car tires on the sixth time they are found violating parking regulation, Vice President of Operations Kathie Shafer announced today.

“It’s becoming a growing issue on campus,” Shafer said.

The
main problems she pointed out were that students are not registering their cars
through the Falcon Exchange and parking in student lots, employee lots or
handicapped parking spaces.

She said that while there is a small percentage of students who do break the rules, this won’t affect roughly 92 percent of students.

If you do find your car with a boot, Shafer said that you will need to go to the Department of Safety to pay $50 for the removal. This is in addition to the fines already due from the former tickets. If you do not pay to have the boot removed within three days, you are at risk of being towed.

To provide clarification, Shafer explained how parking citations do transfer over semesters, but not academic years.

“It’s a really walk-able campus,” added Dean of Students Kevin Villegas. “If you do right everything will be alright.”

Shafer also mentioned that if a student is booted twice, they will need to come to a student review board hearing with Associate Dean of Students Doug Wood. This could lead to students facing disciplinary actions or community service hours.

According
to Chair of the Student Review Board Matt Jenkins, there has been an issue with
students breaking parking rules. He believes this is an important step in
counteracting that culture.

For those who need parking accommodations due to injury, Shafer encourages students to reach out to the Department of Safety.

Reactions to the announcement are mixed. For many, it came as a shock; for others, a necessary action that needed to happen.

“I
think it’s fantastic,” said student Zoë Smith. “I personally have always had an
overpowering sense of justice. I think it’s a great idea for people to actually
follow the rules.”

To encourage following the rules, Shafer mentioned they are considering rewarding selected students with coffee or food coupons placed on cars parked according to regulation.

However,
some students were less positive about the change.

“I’m
glad they found a way to enforce it but it may be a little excessive,” said junior
Yabets Assefa, who admittedly has received tickets in the past.

Shafer emphasized that this is about changing a culture and getting people to register their cars.

“They [the Department of Safety] would prefer not to be writing tickets,” Shafer said. “We want you to park legally so you don’t get the yellow boot.”